First Day Of Fall Chilly Bike Ride To Mount Wichita

This is being the strangest start of a new season I can remember. A couple days ago we hit 103 degrees for one of the few times the temperature went over 100 this summer. I think my old Washington home zone had more days over 100. 

And now, today, on the first day of Fall, the temperature was in the low 50s when the sun arrived this morning. My interior space is currently 76 degrees, naturally air-conditioned. The un-natural air-conditioner has not run since yesterday.

I took off about an hour before noon, with the temperature 70, and let my bike roll me to Lake Wichita. It was a chilly ride. No wind for additional chilling. A dead calm day. My bike stopped at Mount Wichita so I could take a picture of its current condition. 

It won't belong before Mount Wichita is snow covered and ski season can begin.

See the green color of my bike? Yesterday I got myself a long sleeved t-shirt in that same color. First time I have ever been color coordinated with a bike.

Continuing on my bike took me on a side spur off the Circle Trail to an overlook.

The overlook looks over the Lake Wichita Bayou. A vast marsh with a wide variety of foliage. I have seen deer come out of this bayou, but no snakes or alligators.

A few days ago I saw on Facebook an Elsie Hotpepper post where the Hotpepper was lamenting that she wished she could talk to Clyde. I thought of this when I got a call from Clyde this morning. I am fairly certain this was not the same sort of Clyde call Elsie was wishing for.

With the temperature dropping so precipitously it bodes not well for the coming Winter. I don't think Texas has done anything to improve the state's power grid.

The Texas governor has been focusing on building that wall on the border. Only the new version is not a wall in the usual sense. It is a line of vehicles which goes on for miles. 

From the Washington Post, an overview of the new Texas border wall...

Recovered Ruby Helping Theo Dam Puget Sound Tide

Good news from Washington. Ruby is feeling much better. The above photo arrived on my phone last night with the following message...

"We got some fresh air last night. Kids and I feel fine. You can't really see it in the photo, but Theo constructed a little dam and moat in between the logs and we had to wait for the tide to fill it in. He always finds a way to fight with the tide!"

I had myself a might fine time fighting the tide with Theo way back in August of 2017, at Birch Bay in Washington, a few miles south of the border with Canada.

Last year, after the COVID nightmare began Theo sent me a card on which he wrote a message. I use this card as my bookmark. The message from Theo on the card...

"When COVID 19 is over I want you to come over to build a sand castle. Theo." 

I'll snap a picture of Theo's card...

David and Ruby also sent me cards with notes at the same time Theo did. I have them saved as well. But, currently can not remember where I put them.

The Tacoma Trio and their parental units are currently not staying in their Tacoma home. The kitchen is being remodeled, so whilst that is going on they are staying at their cabin on Harstine Island, which is a real island connected to the mainland by a real bridge built over actual water.

Finding Dad's Big Halibut Catch With Mom & Mr. Lee

Yesterday when I blogged about The CATCH For Linda Lou's Seafood In Wichita Falls I made mention of the fact my dad once caught a really big halibut, and that I would see if I could find photo documentation of that big catch. Which I proceeded to do. Which is what you see above. 

I do not remember what newspaper the above article was in. Most likely the Bellingham Herald or Lynden Tribune. Or, maybe, the Skagit Valley Herald.

Whatever newspaper, the article has an error or two. It has my dad being from Mount Vernon.

No.

Mom and dad were living in Burlington when that big fish was caught, and had been in that Skagit town for years.

The article has my dad being a former Lynden resident. I don't think dad ever lived in Lynden. Nooksack and Sumas would be more accurate. Dad was a Nooksack High School basketball star, which is how he first came to mom's attention, as she cheered for her Lynden High School basketball team playing Nooksack.

Eventually my dad's mom moved to Lynden, one block from my mom's mom. Making it easy to go from one grandma to the other whilst visiting Lynden.

The article mentions my dad catching the halibut with a 35 year old pole made by the late Cornie Slotemaker of Lynden.

Cornie was my dad's dad. Also known as my grandpa. He died before I was born. It is only in this article I have seen my grandpa called Cornie. His name was Cornelius. This was supposed to be my name. The family convention, going back to generations in Holland, was the eldest son of the eldest son rotated the name John (Jan in Dutch) and Cornelius. 

But mom and dad were totally Americanized by the time I was born and so rebelled at naming their eldest son Cornelius. And then I further disrupted the family convention by refusing to reproduce, and thus having no son to name John. As a further example of my mom and dad's rebelliousness, they named their second born son John. It's a wonder we were not ostracized from the greater Jones clan.

This article also has Cornie living in Lynden. Maybe he did. But I don't think so. Grandpa Cornie's mom, my great grandma Tillie, did live in Lynden, when I knew her.

Standing with my mom and dad and the halibut is the pseudo grandpa I knew as Mr. Lee. As in Lee Huntley, my mom's mom's third husband. I liked Mr. Lee. For my little sister, Michele, Mr. Lee was the only grandpa she ever knew. 

And since we have been talking about my grandpa Cornie, I found a photo of him with a big fish too.

That is a sturgeon, caught in the Nooksack River. Grandpa Cornie was a super fisherman. He passed on his fishing skills to my dad. And then the fishing skills skipped a generation til my Favorite Nephew Joey inherited it.

I believe Joey also now has that fishing pole his great grandpa Cornie made a long long time ago. 

I suspect Joey will be passing the fishing skills thing on to Hank Frank. The process may already have begun...

The CATCH For Linda Lou's Seafood In Wichita Falls

A few days ago I was talking to Linda Lou, who lives in Washington. Mount Vernon in the Skagit Valley to be precise.

Washington, where fresh seafood is abundantly available. Both for the buying and for the catching.

I was never a big fan of clam digging, the actual digging for clams part. But, I did like to be on the sand flats at low tide whilst others were digging.

I liked wading out in the surf to catch Dungeness crab. Or dangle a crap pot off the train trestle which crosses Fidalgo Bay to reach Anacortes. One had to hurry off the trestle, or get to one of the wide spots, if a train suddenly showed up.

It was Linda Lou's dad, Bill, who first introduced me to catching cod out in the San Juan Islands. Off Cattle Point to be precise. On the boat, if I remember right, in addition to ship's captain, Bill, there was me, Linda Lou, Russell B. and Big Ed.

We caught a lot of cod that day. And then, when we got back to Burlington, Bill made deep fried cod from what was caught a short time previous. I remember this as the best cod ever. Over the years the cod that day has been mentioned many a time. 

It was my experience catching cod that day off Cattle Point that motivated my mom and dad to buy their first boat. A few years later dad landed a 185 pound halibut. There was a photo of dad and his halibut in the local newspaper. I should see if I can find that photo, but not right now.

So, like I was saying, a few days ago I was talking to Linda Lou. She had just had really good fish and chips at a seaside restaurant in Bellingham. In Washington fish and chips means a fish like cod, or halibut. And chips are those fried spud slivers known as french fries.

Linda Lou asked if I can get good fish and chips at my location in Texas. I uttered a scoffing noise and said these people think catfish is seafood. That you might find something exotic on a menu like cod, halibut, red snapper or salmon, but more often than not if seafood is on the menu, that seafood is catfish. Or these awful insect-like things called crawdads or crawfish or mudbugs.

I told Linda Lou my first experience with Texas seafood was at the long gone Riscky's Catch in the Fort Worth Stockyards. We opted for the all you can eat fish. Which was catfish with a cornmeal coating. It came with all the hush puppies you could eat. We ate little of either the catfish or the hush puppies. The least I've ever eaten at an all you can eat.

What are hush puppies Linda Lou asked? I told her it was a Southern staple, like grits is, that hush puppies are deep fried corn meal nuggets.

Linda Lou asked if the catfish was good. I told her no, it was not good, it had a mushy texture and a slight muddy taste, does not taste like fish. I have been told by others from the Pacific Northwest, who are in Texas, that they have had edible catfish. But, I, unfortunately, have not.

So in the past week or so a new restaurant has opened in Wichita Falls.

THE CATCH.

That is one page of their two page menu you see at the top. As you can see, catfish makes multiple appearances on the menu. Crawfish tails also show up. As does Gator. And the Baskets & Fried Combos all come with those aforementioned hush puppies.

Something called Whitefish also shows up on THE CATCH menu a couple times. I would guess this is tilapia. If it were cod or halibut I think mention would be made of that fact. 

I drove by THE CATCH yesterday on my way back from ALDI. The place was packed. People were even under the umbrellas of the outside patio, despite the 90 degree plus heat. 

I likely will not be sampling the menu of THE CATCH anytime soon...

Fort Worth Is Almost Done Cleaning Its Imaginary Island

Yesterday the DFW entity known by some as Elsie Hotpepper sent me a link via a Facebook message.

The link was to an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram titled Millions have been spent to clean up chemicals in Fort Worth. The work is nearly done.

The Hotpepper message accompanying the link simply said "You will have a field day with this one..."

That image you see above is a screen cap from the aforementioned article. That is one of Fort Worth's new amazing iconic signature bridges you see in the foreground. There are three of these amazing bridges, which have been such complex feats of engineering that construction on them is still not complete seven years after building began with a celebratory TNT explosion way back in 2014.

You may not be able to click the link and get past the Star-Telegram paywall. For some reason I am able to do so. So, let's take a look at this article.

We start with the first paragraph perplexing me...

For more than a decade, the Tarrant Regional Water District has spent upwards of $43 million to remove toxic chemicals from two dozen properties in Fort Worth’s industrial north side.

I have long opined that America's Biggest Boondoggle would one day get much bigger when toxic chemicals get discovered requiring an EPA Superfund type cleanup.

But, I guess I was wrong about that and the toxic cleanup has been going on for more than a decade.

The TRWD has spent upwards of $43 million of TRWD funds to do this cleanup? Why wasn't the EPA involved, with the Superfund paying for the cleanup? At one point in time, this century, Tacoma had the biggest EPA Superfund cleanup in Superfund history, when the Asarco smelting plant property was cleaned up to prepare for the massive Point Ruston development.

Moving on to the second paragraph...

Now, only two sites remain between the district and its goal to complete the “largest single voluntary cleanup program in the state of Texas,” according to Woody Frossard, the water district’s environmental director.

Are we actually bragging that this is the largest voluntary cleanup in the state of Texas? And this has been a goal? To have the largest voluntary cleanup? Seems like there are plenty of other things the TRWD might focus on as a worthwhile goal.

Continuing on...

The effort to remove more than 300,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil and treat more than 44 million gallons of water was spurred by the Panther Island/Central City flood control project.

I think I remember reading J.D. Granger bragging about all the contaminated dirt that had been removed. Where did this contaminated soil get moved to? Did anyone get photo documentation of the dirty dirt being moved? 44 million gallons of water was treated? How? Was the water transported to a water treatment plant where it was circulated back into the water supply? 

And then we have this...

Congress authorized federal funding for digging the channel in 2016, but has not sent the money to Fort Worth in the years since. The project would return flood protection to more than 2,400 acres inhabited by Fort Worth residents, according to a city press release.

Why hasn't the federal funding been sent to Fort Worth you are likely wondering? Didn't we read somewhere that the fact that there has been no required Feasibility Study completed, or some such thing, needed before the Army Corps of Engineers can give the go ahead? The project would return flood protection? As if the area is not already protected by levees built well over a half century ago, with no flooding in the protected area since the levees were built.

Continuing on we read that the water district's environmental director, Woody Frossard would not name the two remaining properties in need of cleanup, but he is optimistic those two properties will be cleaned up in the next fiscal year, which starts in October, and then in the next paragraph...

“Once I get these two properties remediated, I am completely through with environmental remediation for the bypass channel,” Frossard said. “There will be no additional environmental restrictions to keep the Corps from starting construction as soon as they get funding.”

Once those two properties get cleaned up there is nothing but lack of funding to stop the Army Corps of Engineers from starting to dig the ditch? What about that required Feasibility Study? And also, from what this Frossard guy is saying, there will be no ditch digging for yet one more year, with the Corps unable to dig the ditch until those two properties are cleaned up. 

I'm done with the commenting. I'll just copy the rest of the article for your reading enlightenment...

Due to its history of housing a petroleum refinery, two metal refineries and a metal reclamation facility, Fort Worth’s northern section required significant cleanups to address decades of contamination. Water district officials began identifying those sites in 2004, with remediation work starting in the mid-2000s, Frossard said.

Earlier this month, the water district announced the completion of its cleanup at Fort Worth’s former police and fire training center and an adjacent property on Calvert Street. For decades, trainees shot lead bullets at the firing range and practiced putting out fires using aqueous film forming foam, a popular fire suppressant containing perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS.

PFAS chemicals, which are found in many consumer products, are known as “forever chemicals” because they are highly persistent and accumulate in people’s bodies rather than breaking down, said Dr. Katherine Pelch, a professor at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth who studies PFAS and public health.

Frossard said the most difficult chemicals to remove are those toxic to humans, especially with the amount of lead found at the former training center, which sits near the Charles. H. Haws Athletic Center.

“For all the years of shooting, they’ve shot shotguns, rifles and pistols so there was obviously a lot of spent lead there,” he said. “We had to have a special crew come in that had to be suited up so that they could actually get in there and collect all of the lead material … That was the very first thing that had to be done: the lead contamination had to be removed and contained.”

Two concrete towers at the center are still awaiting demolition, and Frossard plans to request funding for that project at the water district’s next board meeting.

Although cleanups have officially been completed at 26 of 28 properties identified by the water district, the process of earning certificates of completion from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality could take several extra months. The water district has received 21 certificates so far, Frossard said.

Frossard has been with the water district for the entirety of the cleanup process, and is proud to have seen the district clean north Fort Worth so that it’s safe for residential development.

“We cleaned up everything to residential standards, which means you can build houses on it, kids can play in the dirt,” he said. “There’s less restrictive state standards out there, like commercial or industrial, that would limit our ability to use the property for any other purpose. The highest standard is residential, and we have cleaned it up to the highest standard.”

Madame McNutty Takes Me Back To Lake Powell Meditations

I was Facebook messaging with Madame McNutty this morning when somehow something about Seattle's Fremont Sunday Market led me to point MM to web pages I made a long long time ago about a Lake Powell Houseboat trip way back in 1994.

Madame McNutty then asked me who Homer was. I did not remember nicknaming anyone with the Homer name, so I had to go to Hell Houseboat: a Lake Powell Houseboat Adventure to remember that Homer is what I called Wally at that point in time. Wally and Big Ed are also known as the Goober Twins.

On the Bobcat Cove Hell Houseboat page I saw the photo you see above, which I had forgotten about.
That is me meditating atop a cliff overlooking Bobcat Cove and my temporary floating dwelling. There was a lot of skinny dipping in Lake Powell on that particular trip. I do not remember if I was in skinny dip mode whilst atop that cliff.

Two of my fellow floaters were seriously disturbing acrophobes. More than once while we were on Lake Powell I got yelled at for being too close to what they thought to be a dangerous precipice, including interrupting my peaceful, safe meditating whilst atop that redrock cliff.

I knew that in about four days I was going to subject the acrophobes to their scariest fear of heights episode ever when were off the houseboat, heading to the San Juan Inn in Mexican Hat, with the Moki Dugway our road to the San Juan River Valley below. 

When we reached the precipice which the Moki Dugway descends, with dire warning signs, the acrophobe van began flashing its headlights, signaling the need to stop. Neither acrophobe felt brave enough to drive down that precipice. So, I assigned that task to Homer/Wally. I learned later that when we began the descent one acrophobe put a pillow case over her head while the other laid on the floor of the van guzzling vodka.

I've driven down the Moki Dugway twice. It is a little scary, as in you would be toast if the brakes failed. The second time down the Moki Dugway was after the second Lake Powell Houseboat adventure. That second time I knew what to expect. It still was scary.

I wonder if and when I will ever drive down something like the Moki Dugway again?

Husky Ruby COVID Update

When I woke up my computer this morning that which you see above was in the incoming email. 

The text in the email said..."Tried to text these but they didn’t seem to go. It’s Husky helping Ruby feel better..."

I can not tell, for sure, if Husky is an actual Husky, or a stuffed toy type Husky. Prior to Husky all the dogs in the Ruby residence have been poodles of various sizes and colors.

I texted Ruby's phone yesterday after Mama Michele told me Ruby was ailing with COVID, saying "I hope you feel better real soon, Ruby!!!!" 

Not more than ten seconds passed before Ruby replied with "Thank you, me too."

I took this as a good sign what with Ruby feeling good enough to tap out a quick message on her phone.

Ruby Has COVID

 

Heard from Mama Michele this afternoon that my one and only Favorite Niece Ruby, has tested positive for COVID.

Above that is me in the middle between Theo and Ruby at an ice cream joint in Tacoma's Ruston Way development.

Theo tested negative on the rapid test. Even as I type Mama Kristin has taken Theo and big brother, David, to get the up your nose COVID test.

Ruby started getting sick on Sunday, mostly a lot of coughing. Then by Monday morning, sore throat and stuffy nose. Ruby had only been back in school for three days. A kid who was in class for the first day of school, later tested positive.

The mask mandate was in play.

When the Tacoma Trio called me on my birthday, last month, they were sounding so excited to be going back to school...

Ides Of September Rolling On The Lake Wichita Boardwalk

On this Ides of September, day 15 of the 2021 version of such, my backup bike rolled me to the Lake Wichita Boardwalk, and beyond, this morning.

A morning with a slight chill in the air being a welcome harbinger of the arrival of Autumn a week from today.

Work has begun on a section of the Circle Trail at the far west end of Lake Wichita, near Mount Wichita. There had been talk of making this new section of the Circle Trail of the boardwalk type thing you see above.

I suspect the cost of a boardwalk is what has the new section of Circle Trail circling along the shoreline, instead of over water.

Methinks the over the water boardwalk plan would be worth the extra cost, and would end the unpleasantness now being experienced due to property owners along the shoreline who don't want a trail in their backyard.

I am not a native of this town, have only been in Wichita Falls a few years. But, I was not long in town before I learned that similar objections were raised at other locations of the Circle Trail. With those objections going away when the reality of the Circle Trail turned out to be a property enhancement. As in you will now see a real estate advertisement claiming closeness to the Circle Trail to be an attribute.

Anyway, I had myself a mighty fine bike ride today. I may to the same thing tomorrow. I am a big fan of being repetitive...

Trip Down The Memory Lane Of Fort Worth Racketeering

 A couple days ago the DFW entity who goes by the name, sometimes, of Elsie Hotpepper, sent me an email, part of which you see screen capped above.

The subject line says "A trip down memory lane". There was no further explanatory text. Just six attached PDF files. It took me awhile, and a phone call from the aforementioned Hotpepper, before I understood that the point of these PDFs is they are sort of appalling evidence of how long Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision and the town's other instances of corruption have been Boondoggling along.

We will go through these PDFs one by one, gleaning what we can, starting with the one on the left in the top row...

The first one is from way back in 1995, an article in D Magazine titled "Who Runs Fort Worth?" Okay, basically the article makes the case that the Bass Family to a large degree runs Fort Worth, treating the town like it's their own little fiefdom, remaking parts of the town to suit their whims, well, mostly the whims of Ed Bass.

The next PDF shows us the payroll of the Tarrant Regional Water District from 2013. From that we learn that way back then J.D. Granger was being paid 74.80 an hour. The employee with whom J.D. had an extramarital affair, and later married, Shanna Cate, was making 38.23 an hour. The ostensible boss of J.D. and Shanna, Jim Oliver, was making a whopping 146.63 an hour.

The next PDF goes back five years to 2008 with another TRWD payroll, but this time we learn the yearly salary. In 2008 J.D. made 140,000 a year. Girlfriend, Shanna, made 64,200, while their boss, Jim Oliver, made 275,000 a year.

Moving on, the next PDF is an article titled The Uppity Dumpties written by Richard Connor that was in the Fort Worth Business Press way back on November 27, 2006. This article details the cronyism of the group of Fort Worth insiders, like Kay Granger and her son, J.D. and Bryan Eppstein, who benefitted from multiple contracts of the no-bid sort with the water district, including managing the water board campaigns of Jim Lane and Marty Leonard.

The next PDF is an article in The Texas Observer from October 20, 2000 by P.A. Humphrey titled Bringing Home the Bacon. This article details what seems to amount to a form of insider trading by Kay Granger helping finagle pseudo public works projects which would benefit property owned by Granger.

The source of the info in the final PDF we are a bit unsure about. It's an article written by Matt Pulle on September 11, 2005, titled Einstein? No, Eppstein: Fort Worth Republican plays both sides of the fence. At the end of the article we see "Photo of Bryan Eppstein on this page courtesy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram."

So, we can say for certain the photo is from the Star-Telegram. But the article? The Star-Telegram is not known for articles like this which details the tangled web of Eppstein's dealing with the Fort Worth political machine.

_________________________

So, there you go. The main thing I got out of these six PDFs is how amazingly long this stuff has been going on. How does one bring about a RICO investigation? RICO, as in Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.